Berkshire Hathaway Now Owns 9.5% of Activision Blizzard

Berkshire Hathaway now owns 9.5% of video game giant Activision Blizzard, Warren Buffett announced.

“We now own something like 9.5% of Activision,” Buffett said in a meeting in downtown Omaha, Nebraska, their first gathering with shareholders since 2019. “It is my purchases, not the manager, who bought it some months ago. And if the deal goes through, we make some money, and if the deal doesn’t go through who knows what happens.”

Buffett’s major investments in the ‘Call of Duty’ game maker comes as Microsoft’s purchasing of Activision Blizzard is still waiting for regulatory approval.

Buffett also announced that Berkshire boosted its combined stakes in oil company Chevron. Stake grew to $25.9 billion form just $4.5 billion three months earlier.

Berkshire Hathaway said it repurchased $3.2 billion of its own stock in the quarter, suggesting that Buffett has decided to use its massive cash pile.

Berkshire’s first-quarter operating profit was almost unchanged at $7.04 billion, as supply chain disruptions and rising prices kept impacting all its businesses. Net income fell 53% to $5.46 billion during the quarter.

Buffet said (again) that inflation “swindles” equity investors. “Swindles the bond investor, too. It swindles the person who keeps their cash under their mattress. It swindles almost everybody,” he said.